Pacific Design Center

Cesar Pelli
1975

Distant views and an entrance corner

Popularly known as the "Blue Whale," this building fulfills Charles Jencks' definition of "slick tech"--an exaggeration of the technological image toward the glossy and ultra-smooth. Here the Argentinian architect uses a membrane of various kinds of glass--transparent, semi-transparent, and opaque.

The front with the cylindrical escalator tower

Although the plan is an apparent rectangle, the main hallway cuts a diagonal through the building--a kind of Mannerist surprise.